many moons ago.

a while back now my older brother and mother both wrote up their "where i'm from" poems and posted them on their blogs and i decided i would write one and post it too. well, i wrote it that same week and then … somehow i forgot about it until i just found it right now. so although its been a long time coming, and doesn't have as many beautiful photos as mamas or as many unique anecdotes as jarons, here is my poem just the same:

where i'm from
by janaya l. johnson

i am from the smell of rain, from super glue and hot dogs after bedtime.

I am from the big backyard, sunny, prickly, it sounded like squeaky swings and trampoline springs.

i am from the aloe vera plant, the summer tomatoes, warm, firm and juicy.

i'm from the nightly dinners and laughter, from time spent with jayce and overwhelming love for the grandpa i never met.

i'm from no singing at the dinner table, and i can't wait til' daddy gets home! from "i left the key in the dryer" and "you can have it if you can open it".

i'm from helaman 5:12. from "but if not", and Jesus, Savior, pilot me.

i'm from provo to the desert, and "our hearts are tied to the land". from fry bread and beans, and ice cream on porches.

from the regret of not hugging grandma johnson the last time i saw her, and the stubborn ingenuity of maureen, not maurene.

from pictures and projects all packed up in boxes, memories saved for another day.

i am from the scar you can't see and the Father that healed me. from baby blanky and cartwheels and love that's eternal.


welp, i hope that was worth the wait. haha.

healthy wealthy and wise …

     when i got back up to school this semester i knew i was in need of finding a second job. my hours at idaho pacific were getting cut way back because sarina was returning to scales while she was in school and so there was one more person we had to split the night hours with. i was pretty relieved when my bishop told me i could work for him at deseret industries during the first week of school. however, almost a month after that, and still not having started working yet i was getting a little ancy. then, last thursday night i received an email about a job on campus i had applied for at the end of last semester, it said that if i was still interested then i should go to this certain building and talk to them. so, after a night of trying to figure out what i should do i decided to go and talk to them. there was no interview process at all, it was just a, "are you still interested?" to which i said yes. then they asked, "can you start monday?" and i said YES! it was amazing to see the difference in hiring processes. i've been working with and doing things with DO for over a month now and was still waiting to start working, and on campus I walked in on friday and was told i could start working monday, it was glorious! the only catch is, the job i applied for was an early morning janitorial position on campus. and they are not joking when they say early, i work the 4-7am shift in the hart building, which, if you know me, is a funny thought, because i am about as far from a morning person as you can get. it would probably be easier for me to stay up until 4 am to go to work than to try and go to bed early and get up before work, but, life isn't really meant to be easy i suppose. last night i pretty much had to force myself into bed at 930pm and i woke up this morning at 3am. it wasn't that bad, but then again, it was only the first day. i just keeping hoping that the saying, "early to bed and early to rise, makes a (wo)man healthy wealthy and wise" comes true for me! so far i like the job, i cleaned bathrooms today which i thought was fun because i got to make a mess while i cleaned (which is my favorite part of life, making messes) because there are drains under all the sinks in the hart bathrooms and so cleaning them consisted of spraying the cleaner on them, rubbing them with a sponge and then dumping buckets of water on top to rinse them off and just letting everything run down the drain below. i could really get used to cleaning like that! i think i might have drains installed underneath all my sinks in my future house some day, haha. so, all in all, i'm very grateful to be working and i hope that i made the right job choice in the end!

scripture of the day:
D&C 88: 124 Cease to be idle; cease to be unclean; cease to find fault one with another; cease to sleep longer than is needful; retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated.

today i am thankful for:
* roommates who leave me happy notes on the bathroom mirror.
* another source of income.
* the patience of others.
* early morning (8am) face time calls from shad that don't seem as early morning as they used to.
* music.
* a loving Heavenly Father.
* family.

the little drummer boy.

    there has been a music video all over facebook recently, that you may have seen. i've pretty much been obsessed with it since i first saw it. i like to listen to it about 9 times a day, sometimes more. i have always had some very specific favorite christmas songs, like darcy the dragon by roger whitaker, and born to die by bebo norman, but the little drummer boy really has never been up there with the rest for me. however, something about this version of the little drummer boy just seems to speak to my heart.
     i'm not sure i've ever spent enough time before at Christmas just pausing to think about my Savior and what He means to me. but this Christmas season i have done it a little more, and it has been amazing. i mean, here is a spirit son of God, who chose to come down to this earth for the sole purpose of living a perfect life so He could be offered up as a sacrifice for my life. He came because He knew i could not do for myself what it was He volunteered to do. He suffered. He bleed. He cried. He was left alone. He was mocked. He was persecuted. He endured. He loved. He forgave. He healed. He fulfilled the Father's plan. He died.
     there is a man, who walked this earth, who died because of me, who died for me, who died so that He could know how to succor me for doing the very things that caused Him so much suffering and pain. when i think of all these things, and of all the other innumerable and countless ways He has blessed my life, and will continue to bless my life, and how i could never possibly offer Him anything equal in return, i often think to myself, "little baby, i am a poor *girl* too, i have no gift to bring, that's fit to give my King."
     i feel entirely inadequate thinking of ways in which i can repay Him for the gifts He has blessed me with. i try to imagine elaborate displays of my devotion which I could perform, or large costly acts of service i could do to try and give back to Him what He has given to me. but at the quiet moments in my life. when i really stop to talk to Him, stop to listen to what it is from me that He wants i am reminded of these other words from the song, "i played my drum for Him, i played my best for Him, then He smiled at me, me and my drum." the Lord doesn't expect anything big. He doesn't need it. all He truly wants is for us to do our best. He wants us to do what we can. if all we are capable of doing is playing our drum, then that is all that He wants and even expects of us. and as long as we do our best, our absolute, very best, we can be assured that He will smile down at us. that He will willingly and graciously accept our meager offering and magnify our efforts for good.
     what a glorious God we have for a Father, one who gave us His son, just so that our imperfections could be made perfect and that our weaknesses could be made into strengths. i am so grateful this Christmas season to be reminded of the true meaning of Christmas. to be able to remember why we should celebrate this time of year. and to understand what it is that is expected of me because of the Savior's atonement.
     i love the Lord.

scripture of the day:
Matthew 1:21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

today i am thankful for:
* uplifting music.
* a Savior.
* opportunities to grow.
* hidden strength.
* simple acts of service.
* my family.
* smiles.

increase your faith ... the job.

     i've prayed a lot about whether i should stay up in idaho for the winter semester (when i am off-track) or if i should move back to arizona. i kept feeling like i should stay here, but i was worried. i knew that i did not have the funds for this option and would not be able to pay for all the things i'd need to pay for if i were to stay here without a job. i had been putting off signing a housing contract for the winter because i was so anxious about not having a job or any sort of income.

     about a month and a half ago i went online and applied to a few jobs thinking i'd probably hear back from them close to the end of the semester, but about two weeks after that i got called in for a job interview at a local elementary school. i thought for sure that this job interview was a sure sign that i would get this job because this is where the Lord asked me to be. I was still having a hard time increasing my faith, but I thought this was a positive step. I went to the interview and left feeling like i was very qualified for the position, but also feeling like it wasn't right for me. i was torn. i knew that i could do this job, and i knew that i needed to be able to work to afford staying here in the winter, and i felt like this was probably my only option to find a job in rexburg (small college towns don't often have very many employment opportunities because everyone else seems to already have all the jobs.) yet i couldn't shake the feeling that i did not want this job, that it wasn't the best fit for me, or for the little girl i would be working with. i wasn't sure what to do. i thought about it all day after the interview. i was told at the interview that i would get a call by the next afternoon letting me know if i was offered the position or not. that evening when i got home from classes, i decided to do the only thing i could think of, i prayed. i acknowledge what an amazing blessing it would be to get this job because i could stay for the winter without worry. i thanked Heavenly Father for the opportunity to have the interview. then i told Him that i was aware that there were more factors at play then just needing a job in this situation. there was a little girl who needed the right person to help her with her schooling and with the different problems and behavioral issues that she had. i told Him that if i was the right person for this job than i would trust that He’d help me to get it, but if I wasn’t, then i had faith He would help me find another job, and that i would trust the answer i had received to stay for the winter semester no matter what. after i ended my prayer i went down to the apartment manager and signed my winter contract. i never heard back from the school about the position i interviewed for.
     i kept applying to other jobs, and looking for different leads, believing that Heavenly Father would help me find a job for the winter semester. last week i started getting pretty nervous realizing that the semester was almost over and knowing that it’s easier to find a job at the end of the semester rather than the start of another, but i still hadn’t heard back from any of the jobs i’d applied for. then, last tuesday sarina came home from work and sat down on the couch. i asked her how work was and she said, “britney quit.” (britney was kind of a flake to begin with). i asked her why and all those good inquisitory questions and we talked about it for a little while. then, at the end of our discussion she said, “so, do you wanna work where i work? i can get you an application.” to which i obviously replied, “yes”, because let us remember, i still desperately needed a job.  she asked if i was serious and i said yes and so she texted her boss and said, “hey, my roommate is interested in the job.” to which he replied, “have her fill out an application and we’ll start training her.” just like that. done and done. i had a job. i still had to fill out the application and take a drug test and all that, but i have my orientation and some training tomorrow and some training next week, all of which are paid, then they are okay with me leaving for two-ish weeks to go home for Christmas, and then i’ll come back and have two straight weeks of training and be off and running.
     i’m not sure anything has ever come so easily to me before in my life, it is definitely a miracle and has helped me to increase my faith in many ways. i am so grateful for a kind Father in Heaven who gives me answers to my questions and then helps prepare a way for me to do the things that He asks of me. His answers may not come when we want them to, or in the way we expect, but He definitely is going before us, preparing our way and guiding our paths when we ask for His help.

scripture of the day:

1 Nephi 3:7 And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.

today i am thankful for:

* blessings from my Heavenly Father.

* warmer weather.

* friends to laugh and giggle with.

* music.

* herbal tea.

increase your faith.

this semester started off very differently than i ever expected it to. after my first week of classes i started feeling a knot in my stomach. everywhere i went i felt like i was on the verge of tears. it seemed like my heart was constantly racing and i felt anxious about, everything. i was anxious about my classes, i was anxious about graduating in july, i was anxious about boys, i was anxious about my future, i was anxious about my family, i was anxious about my friends, i was anxious about whether or not it was going to snow, i was anxious about waking up in the morning, i was anxious about what i was going to eat for dinner. i literally was anxious about everything. week three got even more exciting. i started having anxiety attacks once or twice a week, which often left me hyperventilating and crying in a bathroom stall on campus. this was annoying, and a little scary, but i kept telling myself it wasn’t anything i couldn’t handle. things slowly seemed to get worse and worse from there. once in a while i’d have a day that was great and i’d think, “see, nothing to it, it’s all getting better and going away now.” but usually the very next day the anxiety would be back. then, a couple weeks after midterms, i had a really bad week. every day i had at least one anxiety attack, but most days i had 2 or more. on that friday i told my roommate sarina that i didn’t know what to do and that i was thinking maybe i should talk to the Bishop on sunday, she said that was probably a good idea. but then saturday was a good day and i decided that night that i didn’t really need to talk with my Bishop and i was just worried about nothing and i’d be fine if i would just let it pass. well, that was obviously the wrong answer because that sunday was the worst it had ever been. something was way off with me, and people could obviously tell something was wrong and kept asking me if i was okay. by the time relief society was starting i was on my third anxiety attack of the day (we have 8am church, so that’s 3 attacks by 10am) and i knew i had to talk with my Bishop. sarina had a meeting with him after church to get a new temple recommend and so i decided to stay with her and try and squeeze in an appointment. as i sat waiting while sarina was in talking with the Bishop i got extremely self-conscious about everything that had been happening and as soon as she got out i just stood up and left with her. she didn’t say anything. we got to my car and started driving home. about half way to our apartment i heard a voice in my head sweetly say, “don’t do this, don’t go home, you need me.” it was then that i finally decided that something needed to change. i needed to do something. i needed some sort of answer, any answer. i just couldn’t keep trying to live my life with so much constant anxiety. i knew that sweet voice was right. i got to our apartment and just pulled up to the front and told sarina i was going back to try and meet with the Bishop, she smiled, nodded her head a little and got out of the car. i headed back to the church. i was nervous, and thought about turning back home a couple times, but i just kept focusing on that simple thought, “you need me.” i got to the Bishops office and shortly after was in talking with the Bishop. we discussed all the different things i mentioned. we talked about the options i could have as i moved forward with my life. i cried. he gave me a lot of great advice about things, and other simple things i could try and do to help. but then, at the very end of my time talking to him, he said something that ended up being exactly what i needed to hear, and has made the most amazing difference in my life during the rest of this semester, he said, “janaya, after being your Bishop for the last couple semesters, and seeing the things you say and do, and the choices you have made, and through inspiration from the Spirit, i have no doubt in my mind that you are a woman of great faith, which may make what i am going to say to you next somewhat confusing, but i feel the answer to your anxiety is this … you need to increase your faith.” i did leave feeling a little confused, but he was right. about both things. he was right about me being a woman of faith. i do have a lot of faith, so much faith sometimes that i have definitely thought before that there was no way i could possibly have more faith. i always try to do what the Lord asks of me, go where He leads me, and strive, always, to become the woman He needs me to be.  however, he was also right about me needing to increase my faith, because i had already received answers to many of the questions causing my anxiety, the only problem was, my faith wasn’t quite big enough to believe the plans the Lord had laid out before me. it has been a slow process, and has caused me to have to look outside of the box for ways in which i can increase my faith that i wasn’t before, but it has been amazing. i have seen so many miracles begin to take place in my life. i still have a long ways to go as well, but i am leaps and bounds from where i was that day i talked with my Bishop. i will write in other blogs to come a few of the experiences i have had since then that have helped me to increase my faith, but i had to write this one for the starting point. i am so grateful for a Heavenly Father who constantly has more faith in me than i have in myself.

scripture of the day:
Ether 12:12 For if there be no faith among the children of men God can do no miracle among them; wherefore, he showed not himself until after their faith.

today i am thankful for:
* sarina – she has listened to me cry and has been a true friend this entire semester, i don’t think i could have made it without her.
* promptings from the spirit that move us to action.
* faith.
* scriptures.
* fasting.
* temples – there is no place that i feel closer to God than in His holy house.
* kind boys in my ward who instead of asking me if i was okay just tried to distract me by being weird, random, or funny so that i could calm down instead of having more anxiety attacks.

pep talk.

because we can all use one every now and then to help us find the path that leads to awesome.

view pep talk by clicking here.

scripture of the day:
Luke 22: 31-32 And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.

today i am thankful for:
* pep talks.
* modern medicine.
* hugs.
* scriptures.
* prayer.

bannack state park photo shoot.

due to my lack of blogging recently my writing skills have severely diminished, however, i felt it was about time to write you something exciting about my life, which really isn't too exciting at all.
the weekend after general conference my roommates and i decided to make a little trip over to montana to help morgan out with her photo homework. we went to bannack state park which is an abandoned town that is really cool. shelby, tania and i were morgans models and we looked quite lovely if i do say so myself. we had a lot of fun going into all the old abandoned buildings. a few of them were pretty creepy,

but overall it was just fun to read about what they were used for, or who lived there, and then pretend like we were living there in the 1800s. we gave each other fake names and stories and then talked in our best old hick accents.

morgans name was annabelle, she was engaged to the town lawyer, william jacobs, she was our sweetest and kindest friend, but she liked to hear the town gossip as much as the next girl.

shelby was abigail, engaged to the town doctor whose name i don't remember, she liked the riches of doctor hood  and was probably our fanciest friend.

tanias name was mabel and she was our spinster friend, she helped run the general store, owned a small hotel that was used for long term stays for prospecting miners, and she also had a fling with an escaped convict, she was definitely the most exciting one of us all.

 I was mary beth, engaged to joshua meade, owner of the meade hotel,

i had all the juicy town gossip and was kind of the town drama queen and caused quite a bit of excitement in the town.

it was funny pretending to live in this tiny little town back in the day. we definitely enjoyed ourselves. but when all was said and done, we were there for a purpose, and that was to take photos. here are a few of the photos that morgan took that day, i may put some more up later as they become available. enjoy! (if it looks like i'm engaged in any of these pictures it is purely for photographic reasons, morgan had me wear a fake ring so she could practice some engagementy, wedding type, ring pictures.)

school house.

standing in front of hotel meade.

love this one, she's on the stairs inside hotel meade

my favorite door knobs of the day!

my favorite one!

morgan is pretty much an amazing photographer! it was a ton of fun and luckily i got over my fear of the camera (trust me, it was pretty funny) and we got a lot of cool pictures and even better memories!

scripture of the day:
1 Nephi 3: 19-20 And behold, it is wisdom in God that we should obtain these records, that we may preserve unto our children the language of our fathers; And also that we may preserve unto them the words which have been spoken by the mouth of all the holy prophets, which have been delivered unto them by the Spirit and power of God, since the world began, even down unto this present time.

today i am thankful for:
* wonderful roommates.
* abandoned towns.
* scriptures.
* jackets and a warm car.
* great bishopric members and their wives.
* stake choir.
* jayce.

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three of the greatest blessings i have ever received!.

as you have read, it has been a long busy weekend. to top the weekend off it was my turn to teach the relief society lesson on sunday. i was going off of a few hours of sleep from that night and the night before and knew i still had to do the fine tuning on my lesson. as i was kneeling on the ground preparing to say my prayers before i finished my lesson and thought to myself, maybe i'll just skip sacrament and sunday school so that i can get everything done, and then i heard in my mind "but you get to be with your roommates at church" and i just laughed and realized that there was no way i would ever give up an opportunity to be with my roommates. they are such a blessing to me. they bring me so much joy. i can't even begin to describe how much i love them. so this blog is to tell you all the reasons i love these three girls so much!

michelle:

michelle is so amazing. she is so good at sharing her emotions and feelings with others and letting them help her when life is hard. she has helped me to feel comfortable being myself no matter what. she and i love to joke around and laugh. but, she is also great at listening to me and discussing the things that are hard or stressful or even exciting in my life with me. she has helped me learn how to put the needs of others before myself and just always be aware of what other people need. she is from puerto rico, a convert, the only member in her family. she is pre-pa (physicians assistant) and she works so much harder than most people i have ever met. she is the relief society president this semester and is doing an amazingly fantastic job. i love her so much and am extremely grateful that she is my roommate.

morgan:

morgan is the epitome of being a woman of God. she is everything i hope to be when i grow up. the light of Christ is so apparent in her eyes. she helps me to grow and want to be better every day. her shy, yet funny ways remind me so much of myself. she inspires me to work hard and build my talents. she always knows the perfect thing to say to help me feel better or be better. she is an amazing artist, one day everyone will know who she is, i firmly believe that. it is astounding to me how quietly confident she is in what she believes and how she lives. she doesn't need to say what she is thinking or feeling because you can tell just by the way she lives her life. i love being able to be real with her. it is so easy to be yourself around her. she never makes me feel like i am not good enough and i am so grateful that she has been placed in my life. she is such a fantastic blessing in my life!

shelby:

shelby and i are practically the same person, only she is about a million times more talented than i am. she is a singer and a dancer. her dream/goal is to perform on broadway. she can do it too! she is so amazing. i love to be silly and joke around with her. she and i have so much fun together. i can't help but smile when i am with her. i always know that i can count on her to make me happy. when i spend time with her it's like i am my real true self. she allows me to be confident and sassy and full of life. i do things with her that i never imagined i would do in my life. she gives me faith that i can trust myself and do more than i believe. there are few people in my life who have helped me open up as much as shelby has. she has made a deeper more profound impact on my life in these few months than most people have made in my entire life. i love her so much and am unexplainably grateful to have her as my friend and roommate.

these three girls, together, have blessed my life so much. i was so afraid at the end of last semester, when i knew i was going to have to get all new roommates. it's always a gamble whether or not you will get  good roommates, or weird ones, or crazy ones. and i just prayed and prayed that i would get good roommates that i would be able to get along with and the Lord definitely went above and beyond and blessed me with far greater roommates than i could have ever imagined for myself and i am so grateful for that!

scripture of the day:
3 Nephi 24: 10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in my house; and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

today i am thankful for:
* michelle.
* morgan.
* shelby.
* blessings from the Lord.

<3.

the ipad.

a few weeks ago my roommate michelle received an email confirmation that her ipad was being sent to her. this came as a surprise however, seeing as she didn't buy an ipad. she quickly deduced that her mother had bought her the ipad for her birthday (which is today) and sent it to her and had the confirmation sent to her email address unknowingly. well, we decided that it was important that michelle have something exciting to open on her birthday so when her ipad was delivered we promptly hid it in a secret location and told her she would be able to get it on her birthday. and although we felt a little bad about keeping it from her, we decided it was best for her to receive it for her birthday. so we have kept it hidden for the past couple of weeks and when we prepared for our birthday sleepover celebration we wrapped it up and prepared to give it to her, only, we decided that was boring because she already knew that that was what she was receiving, so we hatched up a little plan. we decided to take shelby's old ipad case and put in it our own version of the ipad. we then had michelle open this gift first, and then gave her the real ipad promptly after. she was super excited when she unwrapped her gift and there in front of her was a gleaming ipad case. she opened it up and to her surprise all she found was this ...

she was a little disappointed. morgan, shelby and i were all dying from laughter and michelle seemed unimpressed. we were all confused because we knew for a fact that this was funny. we quickly gave her the real ipad which she unwrapped and was excited to have.

after a couple of minutes i noticed the 'ipad' we had fashioned her was in the garbage pile with all the used wrapping paper. i looked at her with my best serious face and said, "i can't believe you would throw away your ipad, that is a very special gift." all of a sudden she burst into laughter and started laugh-crying. we were all super confused. but she calmed down just long enough to pick up her 'ipad' and say, "i just got it." and then she continued to laugh uncontrollably.

i knew it was funny!

scripture of the day:
Psalms 27: 14 Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.

today i am thankful for:
* amazing FHE's that make me grateful to be where I am.
* learning new things.
* hugs.
* moving forward even when it's hard to leave things behind.
* love.

<3.

legacy air show.

for the past couple of weeks morgan has been super excited to go to the legacy air show. she had never been to one, i had never been to one, heck, none of us had ever been to one, so we decided it was a good way to continue our birthday weekend celebration! so, after getting a few hours of sleep on we woke up bright and early and got ready and headed off to the air show. shelby and morgans' brothers came with us, as did our new friend adam (he is mostly shelbys friend, if you get what i mean, but we all love him and have adopted him into our lives).

we had fun. they started the show off with some motorcycle people, which was interesting but it was cool to see all the different planes. i felt like most of them just flew past us a couple times and that was it, but i loved when the more awesome planes went up and did air tricks in the sky, it was way sweet!

this was my favorite plane of the day!

after the airshow we went back to our apt. the brothers left. adam stayed. we made waffles, taught adam to cook bacon, watched man on a ledge, went to the civil defense caves, and then ended the day by going to shelby's house for camp bootcamp. her dad made us show our camping skills and learn how to put up their camping things. it was pretty funny to watch, that's for sure. all in all, it was a great day! it went by way too fast, but it was full of fun things and new adventures! i sure love my friends and roomies!

scripture of the day:
D&C 121: 9 Thy friends do stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again with warm hearts and friendly hands.

today i am thankful for:
* airplanes.
* fun friends to spend time with.
* new experiences.

<3.

"sleep" over.

so, as some of you may know this coming tuesday is MY BIRTHDAY!!! and as it turns out, monday is my roommate michelle's birthday. so for a few weeks now we have planned to have a sleepover this past friday as our roommate birthday celebration! the night started with a trip to winco to buy groceries (this was more just because we needed to go to winco than being an actual part of our celebration process). after we got home from the store we got pizza from papa murphys (i think their pizza is de-li-cious!) and rented man on a ledge. we started our party night off by eating pizza and opening gifts. that was a lot of fun!  it was funny to see what my roomies got me, most of them were just inside joke gifts, and they were definitely funny! they did buy me this tasty smelling soap i have been wanting, and they helped me in my endeavor to build my disney princess movie collection by buying me beauty and the beast. we got michelle a lot of gifts for our plans for next weekend. its always fun to give and receive gifts!! we also gave michelle a "girly hick" hat. we found them on sale at walmart and all bought one, again for this weekends adventure, we sure look cute in them if i do say so myself.

we then brought all of our beds out to the living room so we could have a most comfortable and enjoyable sleep over. after that we played with the golf set i was given. it was funny. it was definitely made for a small child, its so tiny, but it was fun getting to go outside and act like little kids for a while.

next we got rid of our blackheads

enjoyed some sparkling cider

and delighted ourselves in a facial to "purge our pores"

shelby bought these awesome balloons that glow in the dark and so we also spent quite a bit of time playing with those.

after all of that excitement and adventure (we left for winco around 430 and when we ended all the above events it was 1030) we settled in to watch pearl harbor (because michelle had never seen it before). we snuggled up in our beds, ate some oreo cookies, and practiced our sniffling choir. i forgot how amazing (and long) that movie is! it was fun to watch it again. after the movie we just talked and laughed and made fun of our sniffling choir and finally went to sleep around 4 in the morning. it was a great sleep over. i am so extremely grateful for my roommates. these 3 girls make my life so much better than i could have ever imagined. i love them!!!

scripture of the day:
D&C 88: 33 For what doth it profit a man if a gift is bestowed upon him, and he receive not the gift? Behold, he rejoices not in that which is given unto him, neither rejoices in him who is the giver of the gift.

today i am thankful for:
* wonderful roomies who make my birthday so great!
* a great friend who calls and keep me updated about her life.
* a little brother who is such a special part of my life (i don't think he understands how much i talk about him and miss him).
* fun things to do with friends.
* the small things in life.
* prayer.

<3.